Being a big German dude with pellet guns, a 4x4, and a cool accent, my teammate Matthias has quickly become something of a folk hero to the boys. (“You’re still #1, Dad,” Finn informs me, “but Matthias is definitely #2." :-))

He recently upgraded the pellet gun he uses to defend his chickens from bobcat attack, so he quite generously passed his older one to Finn & invited the guys over for some backyard target practice. We also enjoyed joining Matthias & his wife Samantha for some clay trap shooting. Though the boys didn’t shoot that day, we ran into their pal Damian at the range, and they’re up for trying it out on our next visit. (Meanwhile born-scavenger Hen took to filling his pockets—and later my car—with dozens of spent shotgun shells. 🙄)

Finn’s been studying the Spanish missions in class, learning enough to school us old folks on many interesting details about Junipero Serra, Gaspar de Portolà, and more. Having the day off of school & work, Margot suggested that we take the guys down to explore the Carmel Mission today—so off we went.

You can see some highlights in the video below & through a handful of photos (several of which are 360º panoramas I captured inside the Mission; click them to go into interactive mode).